26th Marine Expeditionary Force
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Force (26th MEF or XXVI MEF) is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) of the UNSC Marine Corps primarily composed of the 7th (Royal) Marine Division, the 8th Marine Aircraft Wing, and 12th Marine Logistics Group. The 26th MEF is capable of projecting offensive combat power on to a hostile planet's surface while sustaining itself without external assistance for a period of 90 days. Mission When directed, 23 MEF is deployed as a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) in support of a Joint Force Commander's requirements for contingency response or a major theatre war. With appropriate augmentation, it serves as the core element of a Joint Task Force (JTF), prepares and deploys combat-ready Marine Expeditionary Units or Brigades to support the commander's presence and crisis response, and supports service and the commander's initiatives as required. History Origin as the Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines was formed on Earth as part of the British Naval Service in 1755. However, it can trace its origins back as far as 1664, when English soldiers first went to sea to fight the Dutch. The Corps underwent a notable change after 1945 however, when the Royal Marines took on the main responsibility for the role and training of the British Commandos. The Royal Marines have an illustrious history, and since their creation in 1942, Royal Marines Commandos have engaged on active operations across Earth, the Sol System, and Commonwealth territory every year, except 1968. Notably, they were the first ever military unit to perform an air assault insertion by helicopter, during the Suez Crisis in 1956. The Royal Marines served with distinction in the Falklands, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and World War III, particularly in the Chinese theatre, earning them the nickname "China Marines". While not involved in a combat capacity, British observers and training instructors, Royal Marines among them, provided support to Federalist forces during the Second American Civil War in the 2030s. The conflicts of the first decades of the 21st Century prompted the United Nations to re-think its role as a world mediator, and as a result, it began to take a far more active military role, replacing the UN Command with the United Nations Combined Defence Forces, adopting a NATO-inspired unified command structure and a common training and equipment standard and ranking system. The British Armed Forces entered this structure along with the militaries of the rest of the UN Security Council, and as a result, the Royal Marines' famously tough training standards were relaxed somewhat to comply with standards, to the outrage of many. This had the effect of allowing more recruits to pass training and so swelling the ranks of the Marines, though many perceived the Marines' elite status as being diluted. By 2050, the Royal Marines had grown to twenty thousand men, the size of a division. Under the UNC's organisation system, the Corps was designated the 7th Marine Division of the United Nations Marine Corps. Interplanetary War and Insurrection Despite the tumultuous first decades of the 21st Century, the rest of the century passed relatively peacefully for the great powers. A number of police actions and humanitarian interventions were fought, though they did not cause any great strategic or economic shifts. This would be the case until the devastating Caucasus War from 2089 to 2102 between Russia and the United States of America. Following this, overpopulation and unrest slowly mounted on Earth, leading to the creation of new political and economic movements, of which the most infamous remain the Frieden and the Koslovics. The nations of Earth increased their space colonisation drives in response to this, but it only had the effect of shunting large numbers of disillusioned people off-world, taking their ideologies with them. Concerned by anti-Earth Koslovic sentiment, and especially their anti-corporation pro-worker idealism, German corporations covertly backed the fledgling Frieden groups as a buffer to prevent the Koslovics gaining traction among the Jovian Moons. Unfortunately, the Frieden proved to be as hostile to Earth authority as the Koslovics. Despite the clearly growing influence of the Frieden and Koslovic movements, it came as a dramatic shock to the entire Human race when UN Colonial Advisors on Io were massacred by the Frieden. Germany, the biggest stakeholder among the Jovian moon colonies, was prompted to send Bundeswehr troops to react. As hostilities escalated, however, and German supply lines became stretched, and the UN Navy and Marine Corps became involved. By the end of the Jovian Moons Campaign two years later, the UNSC had become the dominant combatant, and pacified much of the colonies. Fighting would continue to rage until 2170, but on a smaller scale. Deployed late in the conflict, the 7th Marine Division was augmented with the 8th Marine Aircraft Group and 12th Marine Logistics Group. Designated the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force, it served with distinction on Callisto, Io, and Europa. Later on in the conflict, they served in the Rain Forest Wars and had the distinction of being among the first military personnel deployed from orbiting spacecraft in a combat situation via the predecessors to the SOEIV. With humanity's spread through the galaxy with the discovery of Slipspace, the 26th MEF found itself regularly involved in disaster relief, colony building, and occasionally local pacification. The 26th MEF was heavily involved in Operation: TREBUCHET in the ridanus Star System, working with the 9th MEF on Eridanus II. While the counter-terrorist operation was successful, it cost hundreds of thousands of lives and two hundred and sixty Marines of the 26th MEF were killed in the conflict. The operation was abruptly concluded with the outbreak of the First Great War. First Great War With the outbreak of the First Great War, the 26th MEF was taken off counterinsurgency deployments and was one of six Marine Expeditionary Forces and twelve Army Corps to be deployed on Harvest in 2526. Despite the UNSC's rapid advance across Harvest's surface, all units involved took heavy losses from fanatical Covenant resistance. With the arrival of fresh Covenant warships in the Epsilon Indi system in 2531, the 26th MEF suffered heavy losses as the Covenant began to glass the planet's surface. Elements of the 7th Marine Division were able to regroup and later participated in the assault on the Relic with reinforcements from the [[UNSC Spirit of Fire|UNSC Spirit of Fire]]. The 26th MEF was then pulled off combat duty for regrouping and recuperation. The 26th MEF participated in the battles of Jericho VII, New Harmony, New Constanstinople, and Draco III, but many consider its defining moment in the war to be the year-long Battle of Minorca. The 26th MEF was one of many units charge with the defence of New London, and was the first unit to strike into the Covenant's landing zone, catching them off-guard with superior numbers and intelligence and destroying three battalions before withdrawing. By the battle's end, the confirmed kill count for the UNSC was in the tens of thousands, with the destruction of half a dozen entire legions and almost the entire Fleet of Enlightened Benevolence with the loss of only around a dozen warships and a few thousand ground personnel. Withdrawn from Minorca near the end of the campaign, the 26th MEF participated in the Battle of New Jerusalem to force the Covenant away from the city of Mount Haven so that Office of Naval Intelligence personnel could capture Forerunner artefacts. However, the MEF's Rapid Offensive Picket (ROP) was nearly completely wiped out in the action. With the offensive rapidly collapsing, an ODST, Gage Yevgenny, of the 7th Marine Division's 8th Reconnaissance Battalion took the artefacts the Covenant were tracking, lured them away from the MEF's withdrawal point, and succeeded in killing thousands of Covenant troops with a nuclear warhead at the expense of his own life. On the recommendation of another ODST, Yevgenny was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour. Withdrawing to Earth, the 26th MEF participated in the defence of the British Isles, despite being without an ROP and so severely understrength. They later launched a diversionary assault in North Africa to distract Covenant forces from Operation: NOAH. War of Vengeance The 26th MEF was heavily deployed in the War of Vengeance. After recouping their losses in the First Great War with new recruits, the 26th MEF was deployed to Eternal Fealty and Determined Resolve, and also saw action during Operation: BAGRATION and the collapse of the Thorn Wall. Elements of the 26th MEF's ROP were also deployed during the Blood Covenant's Operation Tartarus in an attempt to rescue Fleet Admiral Hood, but were unsuccessful. Second Great War The 26th MEF was deployed in the Second Great War at the Battle of New Basra, Operation: ALEXANDER, the Battle of Earth, Operation: ECHO, and the Battle of Installation 06. The MEF was awarded twelve Legions of Honour for its actions in the war. Structure The 26th MEF consists of a division as the ground combat element, an aircraft wing as the aviation combat element, and a logistics group as the logistics combat element. The 26th MEF also contains a Special Operations Training Group (SOTG) as the training section component for the attached MEUs and MEBs. The SOTG oversees the training and evaluation exercises for the MEUs' annual Special Operations Capable Certification. Command Element The command element (CE) is the command and control force of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force. It provides command, control, communications, computers, military intelligence, and STAR (surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance) in order to enable the coordination of MAGTF operations. 26th Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group The regiment-sized Headquarters Group provides all headquarters functions for the MEF: command, operations, plans, and administration. It also holds units which do not fit within the ground combat element, aviation combat element, or logistics combat element. The Headquarters Group takes its heritage and traditions from 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group, which was a formation of the British Armed Forces. The unit resources includes communications, information operations, information systems, intelligence, surveillance, and Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR). 26th MEF command staff The command staff is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units. Officers oversee staff sections, and Senior Enlisted Personnel task personnel in the maintenance of tactical equipment and vehicles. Senior Analysts are tasked with the finalising of reports, and enlisted personnel participate in the acquisition of information from subordinate staffs and units. Staff branches include personnel or administration; intelligence, security, and information operations; operations; logistics; planning; communications and IT; and training. The 26th MEF's commander is a Lieutenant General, currently Sir Sean Young. 12th Intelligence Battalion The 12th Intelligence Battalion's mission is to plan and direct, collect, process, produce and disseminate intelligence, and provide counterintelligence support to the MEF Command Element, MEF major subordinate commands, subordinate Marine Air Ground Task Forces (MAGTF), and other commands as directed. Its subordinate units are a Headquarters Company, a Production and Analysis Company, a Counter Intelligence/Human Intelligence Company, a Production and Analysis Support Company, and a Counter Intelligence/Human Intelligence Support Company. 13th Communication Battalion The 13th Communication Battalion provides radio, data, wire/switching, and satellite services to support the Marine Expeditionary Force. It also performs networking and data services when deployed. It consists of a Headquarters Company, and Service Company, three deployable companies, and a Support Company. 11th Radio Battalion The 11th Radio Battalion is a tactical electronic warfare unit that provides electronic support, electronic countermeasures, and cyberwarfare support to the MEF. The Radio Battalion consists mainly of signals intelligence and electronic intelligence operators organised into smaller tactical units with different roles. Teams operate using Warthogs equipped with non-standard electronic warfare equipment, which allows them to intercept, decrypt, and jam enemy communications or sensor systems. Other teams operate in M2247 Gremlin MEWSS Strikers. These MEWSS crews serve dual roles as electronic warfare operators and Striker crewmen. As well as providing electronic support, these units can also provide electronic countermeasures by detecting the sensor's or the communication's source, and jamming it using a variety of methods, regardless of the communication or sensor system used. Radio Reconnaissance Platoons serve in a special operations role where the use of standard collection teams is not possible, such as covert infiltrations or tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel (TRAP). Platoons conduct tactical signals intelligence and electronic warfare operations in support of the MEF commander during advance force, pre-assault, and deep post-assault operations. The Radio Battalion also provides cyberwarfare support to the MEF with a specialised company. This company can hack, bug, damage, and disrupt enemy computer systems with the use of the Avalon military virus. The company's equipment is fully shielded against electromagnetic or retaliatory cyber attack. 15th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company The 15th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) specialises in coordinating artillery, naval gunfire, orbital fire, and close air support (CAS) to the MEF. The ANGLICO is split into three platoons. These are commanded by the Division Cell. At this level, the unit's Commanding Officer, a Lieutenant Colonel, runs the company while being co-located with the senior leadership of the supported unit. The ANGLICO is one a few special units who report directly to the Marine Expeditionary Force Commanding General. Two Supporting Arms Liaison Teams (SALTs); each having roughly 10 men, operate for each battalion. Here, the team members will run and control the fire support coordination for the whole area of operations (AO). Also, they will oversee the mission of the Firepower Control Teams (FCTs). It is on these four to five man teams where the action happens. At the FCT level are the Marines actively engaging the enemy with CAS missions. FCTs constantly patrol and are known to setup observation posts (OP) for anywhere between six hours and three weeks at a time. ANGLICO team members are trained to special forces standards, and their training includes airborne training and jump qualification, training other insertion methods such as by SOEIV or boat, fieldcraft, SERE, and other specialised and demanding activities. The 15th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company takes its heritage and traditions from 148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery, which was a specialist Naval Gunfire Support Forward Observation (NGSFO) unit within 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, providing Fire Support Teams to control and co-ordinate Naval fires, land based air delivered munitions and artillery fire from the gun batteries of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, when ashore in support of 3 Commando Brigade. Ground Combat Element The Ground Combat Element (GCE) has the mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy with fire and manoeuvre and repelling the enemy's assault with fire and close combat. It provides infantry, armour, artillery, reconnaissance, anti-tank, and other combat capabilities. The GCE also has organic combat engineers, snipers, forward air controllers, communication and other support functions attached to it. 7th (Royal) Marine Division The 7th (Royal) Marine Division of the UNSC Marine Corps was formed in 2050 after the Royal Marines had grown to twenty thousand men under new UNC training standards. As a result, the Division's uniform, insignia, and traditions all derive from the Royal Marines'. Prior to 2050, the Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines (RM), were the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, formed the Naval Service. The Royal Marines were formed on Earth as part of the British Naval Service in 1755. However, it can trace its origins back as far as 1664, when English soldiers first went to sea to fight the Dutch. The Corps underwent a notable change after 1945 however, when the Royal Marines took on the main responsibility for the role and training of the British Commandos. The Royal Marines have an illustrious history, and since their creation in 1942, Royal Marines Commandos have engaged on active operations across Earth, the Sol System, and Commonwealth territory every year, except 1968. Notably, they were the first ever military unit to perform an air assault insertion by helicopter, during the Suez Crisis in 1956. The 7th Marine Division is currently organised around a headquarters battalion, the 30th, 31st, and 32nd Marine infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, and one tank regiment. A number of smaller specialised units do not fall under a specific regiment, but report directly to the division commander. Among these units are the 21st Combat Engineer Battalion, the 12th and 13th Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalions, the 25th Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 15th Assault Amphibian Battalion. Headquarters Battalion Infantry regiments 33rd Marine Regiment 6th Tank Regiment 21st Combat Engineer Battalion Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion 25th Reconnaissance Battalion 15th Assault Amphibian Battalion Aviation Combat Element The Aviation Combat Element (ACE) provides close air support and transport for the ground combat element and logistics combat element. However, other specialised missions are available. The ACE's six main functions include: assault support, anti-air warfare, offensive air support, electronic warfare, control of aircraft and missiles, and aerial reconnaissance. 8th Marine Aircraft Group The 8th Marine Aircraft Group is currently five thousand men strong. It is organized into six Marine Aircraft Wings (MAWs), a Marine Air Control Wing (MACW) and a Marine Group Support Wing (MGSW). Each MAG is served by a Marine Group Headquarters Squadron (MGHS). Marine Group Headquarters Squadron 22 Marine Aircraft Wing 52 Marine Aircraft Wing 54 Marine Aircraft Wing 55 Marine Aircraft Wing 56 Marine Aircraft Wing 58 Marine Aircraft Wing 60 Marine Air Control Wing 38 Marine Group Support Wing 37 Logistics Combat Element 12th Marine Logistics Group Rapid Offensive Picket 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade 12th Marine Expeditionary Unit 17th Marine Expeditionary Unit 20th Marine Expeditionary Unit Personnel Higher command Officer ranks Other ranks Equipment Ground Aviation Logistics See also *Royal Marines on Wikipedia *26th Marine Expeditionary Force on Halopedia Category:War of Vengeance Category:Labyrinth